Songs of the Universe: Poetry is Here too

By Melody Mestemacher

This collection of poems documents a journey—one that the author has taken, and maybe you have too. On that journey she broke down, fought through, and was willing to lay it all on the line for what was right. Your own journey may include helping others, easing suffering, or building connections. By putting words to a path and allowing for imperfections, you foster true communion with other individuals, and reflect on staying real and alive in the moment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Jun 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662925962

Book preview

Our Rushmore

Layers of the mountain

Exposed with the chisels

Of bulldozers

These days

The back of the mountain is like a sunset

Layers of red, orange

Grey

Exposed under the

Green line of scrubby bushes

Trucks lined up to get gravel

7am opening bell

Why is this different from

The old white men

On the rock

Heads looking to the future

Out of a past

That didn’t do enough

Then

Or now?

If we live through the fires

And the floods

We may need to get gravel from their noses

Their high cheekbones

So we can make higher ground

Let’s be sure we want to destroy mountain and mountain and mountain again

It’s all about

Intentions.

The Cat

Tapping around us on little cat feet

She comes to call all around us

A visit here

A lick of the cream there

Sometimes a pounce

On the boy

Who just got his new car last week

And the drunk driver found.

She, I know,

Cozied up to my grandma’s sister

Over the last few months—

I hear they mainly watched the

People of the town

Come up to the pharmacy

And go

And I can just imagine her purring

As she got a good

Fur fluffing

And likely a good meal.

I expect I’ll get a new dog again

And I fear that when my time comes

He may scare her off

The tiny feet retreating

Just when I’m ready

For her to purr

On my lap.

I will have to tell him

That once again, we

Need to get the job done.

He will need to stand down.

I know he will.

We Wanted Something Regular

We wanted something regular.

with a rhythm

with a shimmy and a shake

And—Hi, how’s it going!

With a crack of the pallet and a smack on the concrete.

What is the rhythm of our lives

Of our method

Of our cars and our bit of sandwich

What is the rhythm of our

Boats and our broken shackles

And our water and our

Battles

What does it leave us

With the dust and the

Smell of it.

All like the rest of it.

Give it to me

Give it to me

Peace in the land

And

Peace in the town of it

And

Double up double up

Wind in the valley

On a hot day,

Or many of them.

Where do we go

With our knowledge of the

Beginning of it.

I will work to not just spit out the memories

I will work to not just spit out the memories

But to preach and whirl and

Tell it so

Place my judgement

So anyone reading will know

Not only did her breath smell

Like caramel candy

But that the reason it’s important is

Because I loved her and I

Knew it

As I bent over my pointless papers.

The caramel part is important

But not as much as the heat

Of my first crush

On a teacher.

Before I knew

A crush